I heard this on the radio and had to pull over for a second.
What the heck were these parents thinking? They give a child who is probably not even capable of tying his own shoes, a weapon?? The only accident I see is the one made by the coroner who labeled this "a crazy accident".

Leaving a loaded gun unsecured with at least two small children in the house is a ticking time bomb. While the parents have lost one child, I don't think they should be given the opportunity to lose another.

I think there are certain cases where most people agree that there are certain people that should not have access to a firearm, even staunch second amendment proponents. I have an inlaw that does not believe anyone should be prevented from having whatever firearm they want, but there are radicals on both sides.

I'm a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment and against gun control but no way in Hell should a child that young be allowed to handle a firearm!

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Haven't been here in a while and when I saw this story initially, I knew there would be a thread on it. I just figured it would be locked after a few posts! As a pre-face, this has nothing to do with my own beliefs on the 2nd amendment or gun-control, etc. This is simply my objective view of this particular incident and the circumstances surrounding it.

You have to keep the big picture in mind (which the linked story offers little insight into). This is an area of the country where most boys, and probably a lot of girls too, have killed, field dressed and maybe even butchered their first deer, or other large game, by the time they are 10 years old (if not before).In the original reports from the coroner and law enforcement they stated that it is not unusual at all for kids that young to be learning how to shoot and to have "their own" guns. Basically they stated that the accident itself was really the only rare thing about it.

In the suburban world, you often hear about an unsupervised child drowning in a swimming pool, hitting their head while riding a bike with no helmet, or choking on a small toy. In my opinion, while definitely a tragic event brought on by certain parental negligence, this is not any different from those others and I don't think there should be any additional hatred directed towards these parents, who have suffered an incredible loss, than what is justified in those other cases.